Freight-barge.



PATENTED JULY 14, 1903.. L. P. HARVEY. FREIGHT BARGE'.

APPLIGATION FILED SEPT. 2, 1902.

HQ MODEL.

INVENTOR.

" ATORNEYS.

il-Nirnn grates Patent/ed .na is, recs.

LEWIS r. HARVEY, or OAKLAND, CALIFORNEA, assienoaor ransaronnrnsiro WILLIAM LEACH AND newer) s. noses, or GAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, AND JAMES DICKIE, or SAN FRANCISCG, eaeironnm.

FRElGHT-BARGE.

SEEGIFi-YATION' forming part of Letters latent No. 733,583, dated July 1 2:,

Applieation filed September 2, 1902. Serial No. 121,893. (130 model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS P. HARVEY ,a citizen of the United States, residing at 1355 Thirteenth "avenue, in the city of Oakland,- county of Alameda, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Freight-Barges; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the said invention, such as Will enable others skilled in the art to which it most nearly appertains to make, use, and practice the same.

This invention rel; tes to improvements in freight barges, and more particularly to barges for carrying oil or other homogeneous cargo.

The objects sought to be accomplished are to construct a seaworthy vessel of large carrying capacity, light towage resistance, cheapness of construction and maintenance.

The invention consists, broadly, of an elongated cylindrical body portion having coneshaped buoyant ends with suitable towingeycs therein, suitable bulkheads and braces, and suitable loading and discharging pipes, gas-vents, expansion-trunks, &c.

lieretofore the transoeeanic transportation of homogeneous cargoes, oil particularly, has been confined to navigable vessels, converted or constructed to carry in bulk, subject to the hangers of navigation incident to their size and construction, whereas the essence of this invention is to divide the cargo into. units contained in barges practically submerged and protected against the strains of the present construction with exposed freeboard, with the additional advantage of light draft. This method of towing a number of barges brings to marine transportatioh all the advantages of railroad trafiic in the same in; dustry in that the barges, like the tank-cars, can be distributed along the route to be picked up or dropped without the disadvantages and cost incident to holding a large vessel for full cargo or other reasons. The advantages of this system of transportation being obvious, further description will be confined to the construction of the barges.

In the. drawings, Figure l is a side elevation of a barge constructed in accordance with this tight bulkheads a, dividing it from the con-.

ical buoyant ends 15. The shell is constructed of steel plates riveted and joined in the aproved manner havin the keelson a and the girder a extending the full length on the center oi. gravity. The Wash-bulkneads o prevent swashing of the car o and i n connection with the annular ribs add lateral stiffness to the structure. The Wash-bulls heads do not extend entirely to the keelson. This is to permit flow between the said bulkheads in loading and unloading cargo. The verticalwall aiextending betweenthe keelson a and the girder a amidships and longitudinally betweenthe bulkheads a, gives a vertical stifiness and forms the backbone of the barge, when the dimensions are large, (approaching one hundred feet,) also tends to prevent shifting of the cargo laterally. To preserve an even keel, it is advisable to pro-. vide ballast at the keel. This may be longitudinal rails (17 or any suitable dead-Weight. The loading and unloading pipes G extend into the hold to near the bottom, as many be ing provided as desired. To provide for expansion of cargo, the pipe D, extending between the gas-vents D, provides space for the displaced cargo. For convenience bridge E is extended along the back of the barge.

This and all superstructure may be dispensed with, as also may be the bilge keelsX, without altering the spirit of the invention. buoyant cone-shaped ends B, forming a continuation of the body portion, reduces the towage resistance in front and suction astern. The ends being air-chambers add bboyancy to ofiset the Weight of thebargaso that at full load the specific gravity of the cargo approaches the displacement close enough to just float the barge with some frecboard at the surface. cast-steel block 13, to which the plates are The;

The ends B are tapered to the riveted, leaving the towage-eye B exposed, into which the towline is made fast. The tow-' age-strain is transmitted from the block B to the keelson a and girder a through the tie-rods B which distributes the 'strain equally throughout the structure. Suitable; cleats, inooringrings, &c., can be provided; to suit circumstances. For rivers and shoal Water it may be found desirable to construct the barges oblong in cross-section to reduce draft. Other structural changes to suit circumstances may be evolved in practice-such, for instance, as making the cone-shaped'ends fall away from approximately the water-line instead of on the axial center, as illustrated, without diverging from the spirit of the invention; V I

For barges of small dimensions, or where it is desirable to ship knocked down,wood can be used to advantage inthe construction. here Wood is used, it is formed into staves and put together in the form used in constructing Wooden pipe lines, wherein the staves in cross-section form segments of the circumference of the cylinder, the butts being offset.

- It is obvious that docking is unnecessary. By reason of the form any portion of the barge can be exposed for calking, painting, &c., by merely rolling it over until the desired portion is exposed.

Having thus described this invention, what I- claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l-sAbarge having a cylindrical body portion with conical ends, air-chambers formed .in the conical ends, and means connecting the conical ends inside the body portion.

2. A barge having a cylindrical body por tion'with conical ends, bulkheads separating the body portion from the conical ends and forming air-chambers, and a longitudinal partition connecting said bulkheads.

tion, bulkheads at the ends of said body portion, and a longitudinal partition connecting said bulkheads and intersecting said transverse partitions.

' 5. A barge having acylindrical body portion with tapered ends, towing-eyes in said tapered ends, andmeans directly connecting said towing-eyes, and forming a brace for the barge.

' In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this th'day of August, 1902.

I LEWIS P. HARVEY.

Witnesses: I

BALDWIN VALE, A. J. HENRY. 

